US Open women's semifinal preview - Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka one step away from finals showdown

At the start of the US Open, Ladbrokes listed Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Li Na as the favourites for the women’s singles title in that order.

And all three will feature in Friday’s semifinals, joined by 31-year-old Flavia Pennetta, a former top 10 player, but currently ranked no. 83 in the world after undergoing wrist surgery last August.

Here’s our preview of the women’s semifinals for the 2013 US Open Championships:

(1) Serena Williams vs (5) Li Na – H2H Williams leads 8-1

Serena Williams

On the face of it, their head-to-head looks pretty one-sided. Serena has won their last seven matches, six of them in straight sets. But a closer look reveals that it hasn’t been as easy for the 31-year-old world no. 1.

8 of the 12 sets in their last six matches went to either 7-5, or 7-6. Serena managed to win each and every one of them. But China’s Li Na can certainly hold her own against the 16-time Grand Slam champion. And one of these days, she is going to take a set off Serena. Will that happen on Friday in New York, is the question.

Serena has been in ominous form, dropping just 13 games through four matches. But she has looked devastating for most of the year and yet, has only one Grand Slam title to show for it.

Serena came up sub-par in quarter-final losses at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Anything below-par on Friday, and she will find it tough to beat Li Na, the only Chinese (or Asian) player to win a Grand Slam title and the first from her country to reach the US Open semifinals.

The 31-year-old Chinese superstar has become more solid and stable since joining forces with Carlos Rodriguez a year ago, and Rodriguez has been working with Li Na to attack the net more.

During her loss at Wimbledon to Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter-final, she attacked the net 71 times. She may have lost that match, but adding that forward approach to her game is only going to make her a tougher opponent. Her game from the back of the court matches up with best anyways.

Serena knows that too. Asked about the semi-final match-up, Williams commented, “She’s a great challenge. She moves really well. She does everything well. I think the challenge of playing someone like her is how do you beat a player that does everything so well? I’m going to have to, in the next couple days, think about that and come up with an answer to that.”

Li Na

Li Na knows that beating Serena is going to be a tough challenge too, but it’s something she is up for. “Well, I mean, at least I have two days off, so of course it’s tough, tough opponent. But is good challenge to play against her, because I think we always have tough match even in Cincy. Yeah, I still have a chance. But for me today, I don’t have to think about more tennis, you know, so just relax (smiling). Then maybe tomorrow maybe a little bit warming up and prepare for Friday. So, yeah, she’s been playing really close. Who knows? Maybe the next time we play she might want to go from close to a win, so I have to be ready for that.”

Serena’s serve and Li Na’s returns will be the key factors in this match. When Serena’s serve is on fire, as it has been for much of the past 18 months, the rest of her game seems to just flow through.

Li Na will have to put her returns in and wait for her chances. There will be few, and if she can take them and put some pressure on Serena in the first set, who knows? It might be Chinese New Year in New York all over again.

Prediction – Serena in three sets